David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

28 February 2019

Lycoris squamigera, the resurrection lily, is a plant in the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. It is also sometimes referred to as naked ladies. It is believed to have originated in Japan or China, perhaps a hybrid between Lycoris straminea and Lycoris incarnata.The flowers spring dramatically from the ground in mid to late summer; it usually takes only four to five days from first emergence to full bloom. This suddenness is reflected in its common names: surprise lily, magic lily,andresurrection lily. (Wikipedia)

26 February 2019

There are four photo portraits by David Robertsin the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. Three of these can be seen at the NPG website, the fourth is represented there thus :

screenshot today

And below is the given text :

George Pell AC b. 1941

George Pell AC (b. 1941) has been Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney since 2001. At Catholic college in Ballarat he was a good footballer, but he felt called to the priesthood and began studies at Corpus Christi in 1960. After further study in Rome, he was ordained in 1966. He received his PhD in church history from Oxford in 1971. Through the 1970s and early 1980s he served in various dioceses in Victoria, adding a master's degree in education to his qualifications. Appointed auxiliary bishop of Melbourne in 1987, he became that city's seventh Catholic archbishop in 1996; in 2001 he moved to take on the role of eighth Archbishop of Sydney. He was created a cardinal in 2003 and was one of the electors of the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Generally characterised as a conservative as a consequence of his views on the ordination of women, the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDs, the celibacy of clergymen, divorce and climate change, Pell has written widely in religious and secular magazines, learned journals and newspapers in Australia and overseas and regularly speaks on television and radio. In late 2018 Cardinal Pell was convicted of child sex charges, the crimes having been perpetrated when he was the archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.

Conceptual Annual Report : Instead of suspending the heavy gold-framed picture - A break away!(1891) by the Australian artist Tom Roberts, collection of AGSA - as it would have been hung when first exhibited, by strong metal wires attached at one end to the wall and at the other to this weighty object, the artwork here appears to float, SUPPORT-ed not by any physical wires but by the word SUPPORT , by the power of inscription, the spell of LANGUAGE.

We also note the intricacies of this photographic composition. At the base of the outer image, the silhouette man's raised right shoe turns to direct us to the leg-cropped woman. Inside the painted pic, the well-fit jigsaw-piece horseman, he too, leans out to point to the woman's curve of neck and head.

It's that old vaudeville magic. The no-visible-means-of-support leviation trick. Another break away! brought under control.

07 February 2019

In the matter of Climate Change, We the People have been disgracefully served by our political leadership. bLOGOS/HA HA has been considering: shouldCriminal Ignorance be a matter of legal resort?

Willful blindness (sometimes called ignorance of law,[1]:761willful ignorance or contrived ignorance or Nelsonian knowledge) is a term used in law to describe a situation in which a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping himself or herself unaware of facts that would render him or her liable. In United States v. Jewell, the court held that proof of willful ignorance satisfied the requirement of knowledge as to criminal possession and importation of drugs.[1]:225

Although the term was originally—and still is—used in legal contexts, the phrase "willful ignorance" has come to mean any situation in which people intentionally turn their attention away from an ethical problem that is believed to be important by those using the phrase (for instance, because the problem is too disturbing for people to want it dominating their thoughts, or from the knowledge that solving the problem would require extensive effort). Wikipedia : Willful blindness

04 February 2019

A big thank you to all the ground and air fire-fighters and their supporting Emergency Services personnel who have done such great work at Hepburn Springs in recent days. No persons orhouses were lost.Eugene von Guerard pictured the scene Break Neck Gorge at Hepburn Springs (with Elevated Plains to either side) in 1864. The update below shows the western edge of the fire-blackened area, bordered now by Sunday's reTARdant landscape paintover.

click image to enlarge

It was an awesome experience to see theAvro RJ85pink-bellied bomber fly loud and low directly overhead.Low-level fire bombing as an Avro RJ85 air tanker comes in under the tree height to combat the fires north of Hepburn. Photo by Brendan McCarthy, fromBendigo AdvertiserThoughts of Colin McCahon's great JET OUT drawings. Below, his Boy, I would say GET OUT, from Easter 1973, with a local update by FIAPCE.